Pick your own Christmas tree

Brian Reinhart of James City County and his son, Harry, 2, look for their Christmas tree at Millfarm Christmas Trees in James City County on Friday.

Brian Reinhart of James City County and his son, Harry, 2, look for their Christmas tree at Millfarm Christmas Trees in James City County on Friday. (Sangjib Min, Daily Press)

Victor ReklaitisDaily Press

About 30 years ago, as interest was growing in choose-and-cut Christmas tree farms, Bill Apperson planted a few trees on his property along Fenton Mill Road.

He looked at it as planting a test plot for himself, figuring it would help with answering the questions he was getting in his job with the Virginia Department of Forestry. But that's not how things have turned out.

"People would stop and ask if they could buy one," said Apperson, who today runs Millfarm Christmas Trees with his wife, Mary. "That put a whole 'nother light on things."

As the couple's Christmas tree farm has grown, so has an entire statewide industry. Virginia's Christmas tree industry is now worth up to $50 million a year, according to a statewide growers association.

Thousands of growers across the state run farms that range in size from less than an acre to more than a thousand acres. The Appersons' operation has an estimated 7,500 trees on 15 acres in James City County, about two miles from Interstate 64's exit 234.

Over the years, the Appersons have learned the importance of always looking for a better product, they said. They plan to plant three new types of trees this spring. Some previous experiments already have gone well.

"The Leyland cypress wasn't even a Christmas tree here five years ago, and now it's one of our top sellers," Mary Apperson said.

The couple said being willing to change in other areas is also important. The Appersons once sold wreaths to a local garden store, then they sold just a few at their farm. But customers asked for more.

"Now it's become almost a separate business," Mary Apperson said.

The couple generally runs Millfarm Christmas Trees with the help of a son, a daughter-in-law and another employee. Bill Apperson continues to work full-time as a state forester. He said he got special permission from the forestry department to run the business and is careful to keep the two jobs separate.

Millfarm Christmas Trees sells several different types of trees, from Leyland cypress for $5 per foot to Canaan fir for $7 per foot. Other varieties include white pine, Norway spruce and three types of cedars.

The Appersons said their busiest time for tree sales runs from the day after Thanksgiving to around the second week of December. They're more in competition with nature, they said, than with other choose-and-cut Christmas tree farms in Hampton Roads.

"Fighting the elements to get the trees out here -- that's our competition," Bill Apperson said. "There's always enough customers for good trees."